Artist a Day Challenge: Hank Willis Thomas x James Baldwin

Hank Willis Thomas photo credit c/o HankWillisThomas.com

For the past week I’ve been thinking about James Baldwin; so much so that I was searching for an original copy of “The Price of the Ticket”. In the meantime, it’s Armory Week in NY and all I am hearing about is Hank Willis Thomas and his art.sy collaboration. While looking at Thomas’ work on-line I came across this video installation of James Baldwin interviews spliced with current day media that cements Baldwin’s prophetic and prescient commentary on power, identity, greed, freedom and liberty. Thomas’ also featured clips of Angela Davis reading excerpts from Baldwin’s open letter to her. This is such a powerful piece that really brings home this week’s events in Ferguson as we see the effects of systematic, fundamental failings of their leadership.